BREAKING OUT
If you have got a head for heights you might like to consider working on a very unusual harvesting job near Queenstown. Not only is the crew having to work on one of the steepest sites in the South Island to clear trees next to the famous Skyline gondola, they’re also climbing trees up to 40 metres tall to lop off the tops. No wonder they call it the most hazardous harvesting job in New Zealand.
THIS CONTRACT IS NO NORMAL logging operation. And if you look at some of the challenges facing the crew as they try to safely remove trees from the hill overlooking picturesque Queenstown you can see why.
It might have some of the best views of any logging operation in New Zealand, but the task has been described as one of the most hazardous jobs ever undertaken by a forestry contractor in this country.
And Colin Calteaux, Managing Director of principal contractor Andrew Haulage, must wonder why he ever took on the job.
"It’s the challenge" was the explanation of this one-time West Coaster, who started out hauling logs for the Forest Service.
Colin’s firm is mostly involved with forestry roading and associated earthworks these days, but he decided to accept the contract to remove conifers under the famous Skyline restaurant to create more room for new gondolas because someone had to do it and it might as well be him.
Anyone who has ridden a gondola up to the Skyline high on Bob’s Peak knows that the hill is steep. Very steep, in fact, intercepted by bluffs and slopes that even defy mountain goats.
Skyline Enterprises intends renewing its gondola lift structure to take 10-person carriages, replacing the existing 4-person ones.
It’s an expensive exercise, which includes upgrading both top and bottom gondola buildings, including multi-million dollar car parking facilities at its base.
But before that project can begin, overgrown conifers – mostly Douglas-fir – have to be removed from 70 to 100 meters either side of the cable lift.
Way back in 2005 I was asked by the Queenstown Lakes District Council forestry consultant to assess the possible removal of trees adjacent to the cable.
With logging contractor, Grant Devery, we marked trees that posed a threat to cables and power lines due to wind throw.
I recall height measurements of between 40-50 metres with DBH width of around 70-110 cm average. Getting up that slope just to make those calculations was not easy.
In some cases, we had to rope ourselves to get to the base of some trees.
Even at that time, with trees smaller than they are today, we realised that specialist gear would be needed if trees were not going to end up in the ticket office when cut down.
We deduced that it would involve a sizeable wire rope with block
and tackle tie-ups linked to winches powered by at least a D8 bulldozer as toe hold.
Some trees were removed, but the project remained openended.
And so to November 2017, when a decision was made to kick-start tree removal on Bob’s Peak as part of the new Skyline gondola project and a new survey of what would be involved in the task was undertaken.
That fell to Colin Calteaux, as principal contractor and Paul (Kirky) Kirkwood, supervisor. Their survey of the job concluded that safety-first would be the top priority. Nothing would be left to chance. And the work would only be carried out during warmer
and drier months, with the crew taking a break over winter.
But just getting equipment to the site would prove to be one of the biggest headaches.
Infrastructure, such as the Skyline access road needed to be improved to enable heavy machinery and logging trucks to access the sites.
Road tracking and haul lines had to be pushed through, virtually under the skyline cable and beyond. The whole exercise involved some major engineering work.
Cut-and-fill tracking meant chiselling out bluffs up to 12 metres high to form pathways and sidings for log stacks.
Much of this work involved Andrew Haulage' 22 tonne Sumitomo 240 and Case 210 traxcavators as well as a DC7 dozer.
A series of safety fences needed to be erected at several levels to prevent debris and broken rock ending up in the cemetery and township CBD.
Standing by for log hauling and loading duties is the company's John Deere Timberjack forwarder, joined by a leased three-drum Cat-based Harvestline – though with winter here, the Harvestline is now parked up, after carrying out a small trial to ensure it can do the job expected and it won’t be fired up again until the next season.
Colin Calteaux figures that the Harvestline will save considerable anxiety among the logging crew by hauling stems from difficult areas around obstructions, over bluffs and on to sidings for further processing.
He says chokers have to be used in place of a grapple to avoid snagging that could result in unintended consequences – losing a stem en-route to a landing, along with the carriage and grapple, and any loose rocks that give in to gravity.
The three-part contract involves geotech and roading engineers, fencers, machine operators, tree fellers and local arborists from NZ Tree Care.
Some felling had already taken place during my visit a few weeks back. All logs had to be recovered where possible and hopefully compensate Skyline Enterprises some of the costs for the job.
Skyline is paying pro rata for the cost of the contract and
so• takes care of the logs sales itself. To date about 10 loads have left the site, supplying two Southland sawmills. None has far gone to export.
Most trees adjacent to the cabling required the top to be removed by the arborists before the stem could be safely lowered for and removed from the hill for processing.
I would describe this aspect of felling as an extremely tricky and dangerous job, involving at least four arborists and felling crew. This is breaking out taken to the limit.
And we’re not just talking about a handful of trees that will require such care and attention, because it is estimated that several hundred trees will need to be handled in this manner.
The job of felling these difficult trees is undertaking by Dave Finlin, of Tree Care and his team of three experienced arborists; James Bennett, Aston Brooks and Curt James.
Dave explains how the top 20-to-30 metres of the tree is removed and lowered to the ground with wire rope by a man precariously perched high up in the tree with a chainsaw secured to the trunk by a safety harness.
Then the stem, some of them measuring a clear 40 metres, has to be carefully lowered across the contour, ready to be dragged to a siding.
In some instances, it requires at least two cables to hold the stem in place to prevent it heading down the slope, displacing rocks as it goes.
Site supervisor Paul (Kirky) Kirkwood says one very large Douglasfir took most of the day to bring down, recover and process.
It measured 64 metres with a base diameter of 1.3 metres. Others yet to be tackled are estimated at standing nearly 70 metres high.
As if the logistics were not only a major worry to the crews, most of the work handy to the skyline lift had to be done early morning before the lift opened at 10 a.m.
On top of that a major public relations exercise was ongoing with tourist operators using the council-owned forest reserve for a variety of activities, including mountain bike trails, walking tracks, zip lines, luge, bungy jump, as well as other Skyline users of the access road.
Overhead, paraglider pilots float by in tandem with their clients and regular helicopter landings take place up on the Skyline viewing platform.
The contractors say this is going to make it interesting when log lifting by helicopter takes place on the north side of the lifts over next summer.
Some wood has already been extracted this way so far by a Glenorchy-based B3 helicopter capable of a 1.2-tonne lift.
One of the challenges is making sure that everyone who operates in the area is up-to-speed with what is happening on Bob’s Peak. Regular meetings are organised by Kirky and Colin with operators. They are having to constantly place ‘No-Go’ signs or slap up temporary fences to prevent tourists wandering off into hazard areas.
"We seem to be doing the right things as we have had good feedback so far from the public," says Kirky.
Colin emphasises that this is going to be a long-term operation, which could take place over three seasons.
The crew has already knocked off for the winter, taking their equipment to work on other jobs and won’t return until later in the spring, though exactly when that will be depends on the weather, according to Colin Calteaux. This job is clearly going to take time.
NZL